The latest news I have from a freind I the defence industry who will be attending the P-15A commisioning (he attends all such events) is that the date is set for mid/late August 2013. Within the next few weeks the BARAK 8s will be delivered from Israel. It remains to be clear whether these will be fitted prior to the ship's commisioning or a few weeks/months later but he tells me the IN are 100% certain the system will be onboard before the end of 2013- all the wiring is in place, it is simply a case of "plugging in" the VL-cells.
Bare in mind the T-45 class of RN destroyers were launched, commissioned and even deployed on patrols without CIWS so it is not unheard of for a ship of this size to be commissioned without certain weaponry.
Wrt delays- yes the likes of the P-17,P-15A and IAC-1 have all been plagued by delays but be certain their predecessors will all be completed in a fraction of the time- this is a certainty. The likes of the P-17 and P-15A were built using traditional methods- the P-17A and P-15B will make use of modular construction techniques, the IAC-1 faced very specific and unique circumstances that led to delays most notably a road traffic collision that wrote off one of the ship's gearboxes that added many months if not years onto the project as these are bespoke products and thus a replacement was not available for a LONG time. Needless to say such freak accidents will not happen in the future.
As Indian shipyards gain expertise, expand, revamp and pump in capital the only way is up and construction timelines being slashed.
